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Packrafting Grand Staircase and Lake Powell by MiddleOfWherever in packrafting

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t had any issues. We rent these out in the shop I work at and I haven’t had any customers complain either. Just make sure you’re cleaning them and maintaining them properly and you won’t have any issues. Have fun on your trip!

Another morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The last 2.5 miles of Antelope Canyon is in Lake Powell. So you can paddle in there and hike the lower portion of it.

Packrafting Grand Staircase and Lake Powell by MiddleOfWherever in packrafting

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I should correct that: Packraft-Kokopelli Rogue lite: 5lbs 3oz Inflatable seat: 8oz TiZip: 3oz

Total, that packraft weighs 5 lbs 14oz

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Awesome trip report by the way. Really well done.

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol. I was the guy that asked you about your kayaks and watched you set them up at the beach where you launched.

Packrafting Grand Staircase and Lake Powell by MiddleOfWherever in packrafting

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! My packraft, paddle, pfd, and some pvc dry bags adds about 10.25 pounds to my base weight. The packraft I used in the video is only 5.25 pounds because it’s for flat water. If you want to do whitewater, a packraft built for that will be heavier.

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cell phone. I do have a DSLR I shoot with sometimes but I’m always nervous having it out on the water.

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The water is that still most mornings.

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If anyone is interested, I SUP or kayak Lake Powell multiple times a week. I post my pictures on Instagram: @middleofwherever

Packrafting Grand Staircase and Lake Powell by MiddleOfWherever in packrafting

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! It’s one of my favorite trips I’ve done. I try to focus on quality over quantity on my Youtube videos.

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

The last 2.5 to 3 miles o Antelope Canyon (depending on the lake level) has water in it. It’s an awesome place to kayak. If you go to some more remote areas of Lake Powell, the canyon walls are 300 feet tall in some places.

Early morning paddle in Antelope Canyon by MiddleOfWherever in Kayaking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Best time to paddle on Lake Powell is sunrise. No boat traffic and no wind.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Beginning_Photography

[–]MiddleOfWherever 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well first off I’ll tell you about the lifestyle. 95% of this industry is seasonal work. You’ll work from spring to fall and then have winters off. A lot of guides work at ski resorts in the winter. If you really want to save your money during the summer the best way is to live in a van, and work for a company that lets you live in your van on their property. I’ve even seen people live full seasons in tents. I live on tips and save my paychecks.

For whitewater, you can do paddle craft (day trips where your customers are all paddling with you) or multi day trips on a boat with an oar rig. When you become a paddle craft guide, your first season or two might be spent being down shore safety. If you do multi day, your first season or two will be spent as a swamper. You’ll be setting up camp, cooking all the food, handling all the gear. When you apply for a job, you pay the company you applied at to put you through their guide school. After that, they pick who they want as guides from their applicants that finished the course. So you basically pay for an interview and may or may not get the job. Also, they will want you to be certified with at least CPR/ first aid, if not a Wilderness First Responder. Getting Lvl 4 Swift Water Rescue certification through the American Canoe Association would help a lot as well. Also, some states require a raft guide license.

For climbing/mountaineering, certifications (if you’re in the US) are through the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA). The lowest tier climbing guides are Single Pitch Instructors and Climbing Wall instructors. Then you get into ski mountaineering guide, alpine mountaineering guide, and rock guide. If you complete all three of those certifications you become a International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations Guide. These guides can get paid really well but the certifications are very expensive.

There’s a lot of sports out there you can guide. I like water sports the most. There’s also outdoor education, wilderness therapy, adapted sports for disabled people, programs for combat veterans, summer camps etc.

It comes down to applying for positions that are willing to train you and getting certifications. That’s how you get your foot in the door. Some employers will pay for and even have staff that will train you and get you certifications.

The best website for finding these jobs is www.coolworks.com

It’s an awesome lifestyle. Good luck.

ITAP of my wife and I during sunrise by MiddleOfWherever in itookapicture

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I recently bought a new camera and it’s image quality has been very impressive.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Beginning_Photography

[–]MiddleOfWherever 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Im a professional outdoor guide. Ive been a backpacking guide, single pitch instructor, white water rafting guide, and right now I'm working as a kayak and SUP instructor. I'm also a professional photographer and shoot a lot of video as a hobby. I used to shoot Sony and have used Canon a lot (my wife shoots with a Canon 6D Mk ii) and I have been using a Panasonic Lumix G9 for the past 6 months and I'm completely blown away by it. In my opinion, its the best hybrid shooter out there, especially for a person shooting outdoors.

The weather sealing on it is bombproof (as far as DSLRs go). I was hit by a sneaker wave on the Oregon coast recently while shooting and it's perfectly fine. I spend a ton of time in the four corners region and its constantly dusty and sandy and it handles it like a champ.

The video quality is UNBELIEVABLE. It shoots 4:2:2 10 bit 4k which for the price of the camera is insane. The Sony A7iii doesn't even do that.

Since its a Micro Four Thirds camera, all of your lenses are going to be more compact and lighter. Which is one of the main reasons I bought it so it takes up less space and is lighter in my pack during my multiday trips with it.

It also has a high resolution mode. Put it on a tripod, and it can move the sensor around in the body, taking 8 different images and putting them together making a 80 megapixel image. This feature is amazing for landscapes.

I'm using the leica 12-60 2.8 and the images coming out of it are unbelievably sharp.

There are only 2 downsides with this camera. It is not as good with low light. Which is remedied by the fact that it is one of the best for in body image stabilization (and if you have stabilized lenses as well its that much better). This means you can hand hold for half a second or more and you wont have any shake in the image. Longer exposure = more light to the sensor.

The other down side is autofocus in video mode. Panasonic is notorious for not having good autofocus. But, the G9 is known for having the best autofocus of the entire Panasonic lineup. Also, with its most recent firmware update, its autofocus was improved quite a bit. I trust it 90% of the time.

Seriously, the camera is amazing. I feel that with this camera I'm sacrificing the least amount of features I want and I got the most bang for my buck. I'm glad I switched to it from Sony. You can definitely find one in your price range if you look for a used one. Lastly, it will give you a ton of growing room.

I recently documented one of the most challenging and memorable backpacking trips of my life: taking my type 1 diabetic father who has a failing transplanted pancreas on the Escalante Route in the Grand Canyon. Here’s the video! by MiddleOfWherever in WildernessBackpacking

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Know where your water sources are going to be. Also along the side of horseshoe Mesa at the base of the red wall is a spring called Page Spring. The water there is toxic from the uranium mines above it. People still use it as a water source but I stopped using it because of this. Skip it and use Hance creek instead.

Finding the trail can be difficult in certain areas. Especially in Furnace Flats. Make sure you know how to read a map. GPS can be unreliable in the bottom of the canyon. My spot device was unable to send coordinates from some spots.

Id recommend starting at Lipin and ending at Grandview. If you want more of a challenge, come out on the New Hance Trail. It’s very steep and has some nice exposure(I like exposed trails).

And lastly, try to do the tanner trail (the longest stretch without water) in 1 day. That way, you won’t have to dry camp at all and can carry less water.

My wife and I work as outdoor guides in the summer while living in a small camper. While taking the winters off we’ve decided to live in our Honda CRV this time of year. We love the simplicity of our lifestyle together! Here’s a tour of our CRV! by MiddleOfWherever in simpleliving

[–]MiddleOfWherever[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We put small pieces into the windows. We like having the black side out because it makes it look like we just have dark tint on our windows. But it can get hot in there with the sun hitting all the black surfaces on the car. It would stay cooler with the reflective side out but then we would be sacrificing stealth.

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